What Does It Take?

For the sake of this discussion, I'm using "Christendom" as a term to describe the public face of what is called "Christianity". It is the entire group. Now, biblically and logically you have to know that "Christendom" and "Christians" will not necessarily be the same thing. In any group there will be "true believers" and there will be others, either hanging around for ulterior motives or evil intentions. The Bible assures us this will be true of the Church -- "wheat and tares", that sort of thing -- but it's true of any other body of people as well. No surprise.

The face of Christendom is almost constantly changing. What it looked like in the 1st century and what it looked like in the 15th century (the century before the Reformation), for example, were not the same thing. Christendom of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries carried out Crusades that later Christendom would not have abided and today's Christendom finds absolutely repulsive. The question is not whether or not Christendom changes, but how close Christendom is to Christianity. Christianity is that solid body of Truth that is the teaching of God through the Scriptures, the intention of Christ, the actual true Christian belief structure. Sometimes Christendom has drifted away from Christianity and sometimes it has embraced it closely, but always there has been both Christendom and Christians.

The Roman Catholic Church has maintained that there are three authorities in matters of faith and practice: Scripture, the Church, and tradition. When the Reformation occurred, the Protestants held solely to Scripture as authoritative. In an odd backlash, some Protestants have decided that tradition has no value and the Church has no authority. The result ... is pandemonium. And Christendom has taken on an almost amorphous face with thousands of denominations called "Christian" with varying degrees of fidelity to Christianity -- some very close and some, if examined carefully, completely outside the group.

Still, as a body, Christendom has held together for 20 centuries with large bodies of beliefs intact. The Trinity, the Scripture, the death and resurrection of Christ, these and so many more have been in the center with other matters emanating out from the middle with diminishing levels of importance. Scripture teaches these and tradition upholds them. The question, then, becomes "What does it take to change it?"

In today's world, Christendom seems to be very ready, even eager to change structures. As an example, for all of Scripture and Church history there has been the constant belief that homosexual behavior is sin. It has ever been thus. Today, however, in some areas Christendom is taking a shape that is opposed to this view. I'm not arguing one or the other. I'm simply pointing out that there are those today who have decided that the long history of belief regarding homosexual behavior as sin has been wrong and today "We've finally figured it out." Or take the example of women in ministry. The Church has never allowed women to be in ministerial authority over men. It has always maintained that women are not allowed to teach men. Today, however, such a claim is considered narrow-minded and sexist. What does it take to change history? What is required to take long-held historic Christian beliefs and jettison them?

In the case of women in ministry, it appears that the argument is, "Nope!" There is no actual winning argument. It isn't based on anything from Church history or biblical text or any such thing. The primary argument is "If women feel they are led to be in ministry, they should be in ministry." It is primarily bolstered by the egalitarian argument that "In Christ there is no male or female", but that is hard to maintain with the manifold passages that describe ... differences between male and female roles and responsibilities. No, the argument starts with feminism and "I don't like that" and ends with some cobbled-together position that doesn't have to be correct, but just has to get enough in Christendom to like it.

So what does it take for you? There are many historic, traditional, even biblical beliefs being questioned by Christendom today. There are pastors of churches who deny the Resurrection, deny the Atonement, deny the existence of Satan ... even Jesus. There are hordes lurking about within the halls of Christendom calling themselves "Christians" who deny the very fundamentals of the faith. There are those who argue that history isn't accurate or legitimate, that "Christianity changes", that God isn't even what we've always believed. So how do you decide what to believe and what to change? What is enough evidence or argument to cause you to throw out what you believe for something new? Are history or tradition of any value? What does it take to change your Christendom?